Egypt justice minister dismayed by lynchings

Egyptians extinguish a burning police vehicle, which has been set afire by angry protesters in Tahrir Square, once the epicenter of protests against former President Mubarak, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 18, 2013. Egypt is currently mired in another wave of protests, clashes and unrest that have plagued the country since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in the pro-democracy uprising two years ago. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
— AP

Egyptians extinguish a burning police vehicle, which has been set afire by angry protesters in Tahrir Square, once the epicenter of protests against former President Mubarak, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 18, 2013. Egypt is currently mired in another wave of protests, clashes and unrest that have plagued the country since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in the pro-democracy uprising two years ago. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
/ AP

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptians surround the bodies of two men hung by their feet in a bus station after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died.The killings came a week after the attorney gen— AP

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptians surround the bodies of two men hung by their feet in a bus station after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died.The killings came a week after the attorney gen
/ AP

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptians surround the bodies of two men hung by their feet in a bus station after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died. The killings came a week after the attorney ge— AP

EDS NOTE GRAPHIC CONTENT -- Egyptians surround the bodies of two men hung by their feet in a bus station after being accused of theft in Samanod, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo, Egypt, Sunday March 17, 2013. Egyptian vigilantes beat two men accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, stripped them half-naked and hung them by their feet in a crowded bus station in the Nile Delta on Sunday, according to security officials. Both men died. The killings came a week after the attorney ge
/ AP

An Egyptian walks by a burning police vehicle, which has been set afire by angry protesters in Tahrir Square, once the epicenter of protests against former President Mubarak, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 18, 2013. Egypt is currently mired in another wave of protests, clashes and unrest that have plagued the country since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in the pro-democracy uprising two years ago. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)— AP

An Egyptian walks by a burning police vehicle, which has been set afire by angry protesters in Tahrir Square, once the epicenter of protests against former President Mubarak, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 18, 2013. Egypt is currently mired in another wave of protests, clashes and unrest that have plagued the country since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in the pro-democracy uprising two years ago. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
/ AP

An Egyptian covers her face as she passes by a burning police vehicle, which has been set afire by angry protesters in Tahrir Square, once the epicenter of protests against former President Mubarak, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 18, 2013. Egypt is currently mired in another wave of protests, clashes and unrest that have plagued the country since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in the pro-democracy uprising two years ago. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)— AP

An Egyptian covers her face as she passes by a burning police vehicle, which has been set afire by angry protesters in Tahrir Square, once the epicenter of protests against former President Mubarak, in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 18, 2013. Egypt is currently mired in another wave of protests, clashes and unrest that have plagued the country since the ouster of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in the pro-democracy uprising two years ago. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
/ AP

CAIRO 
Egypt's justice minister warned Monday that the lynching of criminals in the streets by angry citizens is a sign of the "death of the state."

On Sunday, vigilantes hung two suspected thieves in a rural Nile Delta village as a crowd of thousands watched, and some of them egged on the killers.

Justice Minister Ahmed Mekki indicated that the killers may have seen themselves as implementing a strict form of Islamic law that calls for punishment of thieves and other outlaws whose crimes are so extreme, they disrupt society.

"The application of Islamic justice on outlaws by citizens and the cutting off of roads is one of the signs of the death of the state," Mekki was quoted as telling the Turkish Anadolu news agency.

He said only the state is authorized to use force and if this right is transferred to citizens, there is no state.

"A state that allows this is an unjust state because it does not afford its people protection," he said.

Since Islamists took power in Egypt following the 2011 uprising, there have been a number of cases where civilians tried to enforce more conservative, Islamic mores on the public.

In one such case, three men were convicted of killing a student in the city of Suez as he sat in a park with his fiancée. The assailants had argued with the victim for loitering in public with a woman who was not his wife.

In another example, a teacher in the southern city of Luxor allegedly punished two 12-year-old schoolgirls by cutting their hair for not wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf.

Witnesses to the lynchings depicted it purely as a revenge killing without pointing to any connection to enforcing Islamic law, or Shariah.

The killings came a week after the attorney general called for citizen arrests amid a police strike and sharp deterioration in security.

The men were hanged in the village of Mahallit Zayad, part of Samanod district in Gharbiya province, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Cairo.

Security officials, a witness and a local rights activist, Diaa Mahalawi, said residents suspected the two men who were lynched were part of a gang of kidnappers who abduct girls and boys for ransom. At least one girl told a rights activist that she had been raped during her abduction by one such gang in the village.

The lynching of the two, who were also accused of stealing a motorized rickshaw, was one of the most extreme cases of vigilantism in two years of sharp deterioration in security following Egypt's 2011 uprising.

Because of conservative cultural norms in rural areas like Mahallit Zayad, girls have not reported a single rape allegation to police, according to security officials and residents, including Mahalawi. The security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

Residents in Gharbiya province, among them a spokesman for Egypt's dominant political group, the Muslim Brotherhood, say people do not trust the police there to act on reports of rape.